Wigwag signal



Dec. 2, 1941. CR|STQFQL| 2,265,062 l wIGwAG SIGNAL Filed June 2, 1941 MWF/Zaal- Patented Dec. 2, 129414 UNITED STATES'PATENT OFFICE WIGWAG SIGNAL Lodovico Cristofoli, Kansas City, Mo.

Applicaticn June 2, 1941, Serial No. 396,310

6 Claims. y(Qi. 172-126) My invention relates to oscillating signals, and particularly to Wig wag signals, the same being an improvement over the signal disclosed in my application for Letters Patent on Wig wag signal,

Serial No. 237,271, led October 27, 1938, patented July 29, 1941, Patent No. 2,251,116.

It is a purpose of my invention to provide a signal of the above mentioned character, that is extremely simple in construction and which can be Very cheaply manufactured, and in which the signal arm will have a wide amplitude of movement. In order to accomplish this purpose the device is made up of a minimum number of parts, all of which can be manufactured in a simple manner and at low cost and can be cheaply assembled in position in the device.

It is a particular purpose of my invention to provide a device of the above mentioned character, which comprises a shaft-like member having the signal arm provided thereon, and means for oscillating said arm comprising an armature operatively connected with said arm and movable between a pair of electro-magnets, which are alternately energized, and to provide means for alternately energizing said electro-magnets comprising switching means including a contact element that is movable with the shaft carrying the signal arm, and a contact member comprising a pair of contact elements each connected with the windings of one of the electro-magnets, said contact elements being insulated from each other and being mounted obliquely to the path of movement of the contact member carried by the shaft, so that said contact members will have wiping engagement and so that contact will be made with the contact element on one side of said one contact member upon movement of the other contact member in lone direction, and with the contact element on the other side of said one contact member when the movable contact member moves in the other direction.

It is another purpose of my invention to provide means for obtaining in a simple manner a wide amplitude of movement of the signal arm, by moving the shaft carrying the signal arm through a large arc, this being accomplished by tion between the bail-like member and the armature, permitting said wide oscillation of the shaft upon movement of the armature back and forth under the alternate action of the electro-magnets.

It is another important purpose of my invention to provide means for returning the shaft and the moving parts carried thereby, as well as the armature, to a central position, comprising resilient means and meansl operatively connecting said resilient means with the oscillating shaft, comprising a pair of arms with which said resilient means is connected, that are alternately engageable by said bail-like member carried by the shaft, to resist movement of said shaft yieldingly in opposite directions.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the description of the drawing proceeds. I desire to have it understood, however, that I do not intend to limit myself to the particular details shown or described, except as defined in the claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view through my improved signal device, on a somewhat enlarged scale.

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, the moving parts being in a different position than that shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, the moving parts being in a different position than that shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a view in elevation of one of the contact members and its mounting.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the lever elements and the resilient centering means for the moving parts, and parts associated therewith, and

Fig. 6 is a detail section taken substantially on the line 6 6 of Fig. 1.

Referring in detail to the drawing, my improved wig wag signal is shown as comprising a casing made up of a pair of cup-like members I0 and I I that are telescopcally related. Mounted within said cup-like member I0 is a base plate I2 that is provided with a pair of upstanding ears I3, upon which the cores I4V of the electro-magnets I5 and I6 are mounted. Said base plate I2 also is provided with a pivot pin Il fixed therein v and having mounted thereon numerous moving of a tubular shaft 2|, which is also mounted in a bearing opening 9 in the base plate I2 and an opening in the outstruck portion 22 of the member I0, a felt washer 23 being provided for preventing entrance of moisture into the housing made up of the members I and Il around the shaft. Said tubular shaft is bent at right angles to provide the upstanding annular arm 24, which is provided with a mounting for the lamp 25 having a base 26, a conductor V2`| leading to the center contact of said `lamp 25 and the annular sleeve-like member 26 forming the other contact of the lamp bulb being grounded on the metal of v Y somewhat resilient.

the flaring portion 28 of the'signal arm.

The signal arm is thus mountedV for 1oscilla-' tion with the shaft 2| and it will. be noted that the conductor 21, which is provided with insula-H tion in a well known manner, extends out through an opening 29 in said shaft-like membeitand isv connected with a terminal 30 on a contact element 3|, which extends through openings in said tubular shaft 2| and is insulated therefrom by means of an insulating sleeve 32. f

Cooperating with the contactmember 3| to alternately energize the electro-magnets I5 and I6 is a contact member that is mounted on the post, or pin, I1. The end of the post, or pin, I1 remote from the base membery |2 is slotted, as will be evident from Fig. 4, and mounted in the slot in said pin, or post, I1 are the contact strips 35 and 36, insulating material 33 being provided between the walls-,of the slot in the member and said `strips and 36, and an insulating ele- A thereof.

row in Fig. 6 the same will have `a firm wiping engagement with the contact strip 35 moving transversely across the face thereof, and when moving in the opposite direction will have a rm wiping engagement with the contact element 36 moving transversely of the face thereof. The contact element 3|, preferably, engages the cooperating vcontact member' having the contact elements 35 and 36 at the tapered end portion 39 It is obvious' that the vContact element having the strips 35 and 36 will yield as the contact lmember 3| moves thereacross, the -strips 35 and 36 being made of material that is `Thepostlike membery Ilserves as a pivot pin for .the armature made up ofra pair of strips of at,'soft iron 40, which are provided with arcusaid arcuate portions being shown as being slightly spaced, as at 42, although such spacing is not necessary. The arcuate portions 4| form an' eye or pivot member that embracesthe pivot pin rIl to pivotally mount said armature thereon, and preferably, a washer 43 is mounted bement 34 being mounted between the contact strips 35 and 36.V Said strips 34, 35 and 36 are, preferably, secured together by means of an insulating rivet 62.

The thickness of'thevari- J ous kelements issomewhat exaggerated in the f drawing, said contact strip y35 being of thin sheet metal, and the contact strip-36 being of thin sheet metal, while the insulatingstrip 34V is, preff Vof one of the electro-magnets, while the contact strip 36 is connected through the conductor 38 with the winding I6 of the other of the electromagnets. It will be noted that said contact strip is twisted between the ends thereof, so as to have the transverse axis thereof extend obliquely to the direction of movement of the contact element 3| las `the same oscillates back and forth with the shaft 2 I. While in the mounting shown, the contact member made up of the two contact elements 35 and 36 with the insulating element 34 therebetween, is shown as being twisted to obtainthisrelative position to said Contact member 3|, the important thing is that the direcion rof extent thereof is obliquely to the direction of movement of the movable contact member 3|. Said movable contact member may be made of any desired material and of any suitable shape, and may be provided. with a tapered end portion 39 as shown, it beingonly important that the contact member 3| be of such shape, size and extent that the :same will properly engage the contact member vcomprising the'contact strips 35 and 36 thata wiping engagement` will be had `with one contact strip 35 with themovement of the contact'element 3| inr one direction, and the other contact strip 36 when the movement of the contactmember 3| is in the` opposite direction. It

tween thefbase member I2 and the armature. Each of said soft iron .strips 40 is provided with a reduced portion formingY a finger, said reduced portions being offset from the main body portions of the members 40 at 44, so kas to'space the substantially parallel portions of said ngers fromeach other, to provide a slot 46 therebetween for a purpose to be described below. Said fingers" 46 are inclined away from each other at 41 to provide diverging portions on said fingers extending from said socket and are curved at 48 and extended toward each otherto provide the portions 49 thatare welded 0r otherwise secured together to forma transversely 'elongated loop surrounding the hollow 'shaft 2|. While the Vportion extending around the shaft is not absolutely necessary, itY can be utilized to serve as Vmeans forlimiting the vmovement ofthe armature.- Said stripsfcrming the armatureV are, preferably, secured together in any suitable manner face to face, asrby means of a rivetY 50;

Mounted on the hollow shaft 2| is 'a bail-like wire member having the transversely extending portion 5I and the legs 52 anl53, which are extended through aligning openings in the tubularshaft 2| and have the ends thereof bent over as at 54, to secure said bail-'like member'inposition on said shaft. The thickness o r width of the material of the transverse portion 5| ofthe bail-like member is less than the spacing of the parallel portions 45 of thereduced fingers on the karmature forming the slot-like socket 46, whereby said'bail-like member willhave play, Or fit loosely, for oscillatiorzl` between the portions 45 of the armature. It will thus'be seen that a loose motion connection is Aprovided between the arma+ ture and the shaft through the bail-like member, and that the bail-like member fwillleave 1 the Means isfprofvided forv bringingthejn'ioving Y parts backtto a centralposition with the arma-l tureland bail-'like member located substantially.

in alignment with eachother, comprisingal pair of arms, or levers, and56, the arrangementof said means beingshown more in detail in Fig. 5. Eachof said Vmembers n 55 Aandv 56 ,has an 'openingA 51 therein receiving the hollow tubular shaft 2| and a small opening 58 in the extremity thereof spaced from the shaft, each of said levers or arms tapering from the shaft receiving end thereof to the end thereof having said opening 58 therein. Resilient means is provided which is connected with each of the levers 55 and 56 and is also connected with a mounting spaced from said levers, so that as said levers are moved from a central position said resilient means will be put under tension to yieldingly resist such movement and to return said levers to a central position. In the form of the invention shown, said resilient means comprises a relatively long, but light, coil tension spring 59, which has the opposite ends thereof secured in the openings 58 and extends around a sleeve-like member 60 mounted n the pivot pin I1 rotatably, said sleeve-like member being, preferably, grooved on the face thereof, as will be obvious from Fig. 1, to retain the spring 59 in position on the pulleyliker member 66. The transverse portion of the bail is mounted between the two lever members, so that when the parts are in a central position said transverse portion 5I lof said bail will lie between the two lever members 55 and 56 and be in engagement with both thereof.

When the device is set in operation, and presuming that the contact member 3| is in engagement with the contact strip 36, the armature comprising the strips will be attracted by the electro-magnet having the winding I6, as the circuit will be completed from the conductor 6|, which is connected with the terminal 30 on the member 3| through said member 3|, and the contact strip 36 and conductor 38 to the winding I6, the other end of said winding being grounded to the casing of the apparatus, as is also the other end of the supply circuit to which the conductor 6| extends. The energization of the electro-magnet |6 will continue until the end 39 of the contact 3| has traversed the contact strip 36 transversely. After the contact element 3| leaves the contact strip 36 the momentum of the parts will carry the signal arm 24 to substantially the position shown in Fig. 3, the spring 59 being then tensioned as shown, due to the fact that the arm will have been carried to the right in Fig. 1 by means of the bail-like member, due to engagement of said transverse portion 5| thereof with the edge of the arm or lever 55. The spring 59 will then act to return the parts toward a central position and the contact member 3| will then be moving in the direction of the arrow indicated in Fig. 6, whereupon said contact member will engage the contact strip 35, which extends obliquely to the path of movement of the member 3|, flexing the contact member made up of the strips 35 and 36 and the insulating strip 34. and causing a wiping engagement across the face of the contact strip 35 by the member 3|. Upon such engagement the winding I5 is energized and the armature is attracted thereby, continuing the movement of the member 3| toward the left in Fig. 6 until it has traversed the face of the Contact strip 35 transversely, the circuit then being broken that was previously established to the winding |5 from conductor 6I through contact 3|, contact strip 35, conductor 31 and winding I5 to the ground, but the momentum of the parts will carry the signal arm 24 to an extreme position having an angle to the vertical, substantially equal to that shown in Fig. 3 for the member 24, but oppositely thereto. Whereupon the spring 59 will be tensioned on the opposite side thereof from that shown in Fig. 3 to urge the lever arm 56 to return to a central position as the same will have been moved from the position shown in Fig. 3 to a position considerably to the left thereof, due to engagement of the transverse portion 5| of the bail therewith. The contact member 3| will be carried along with the moving parts back toward the cooperating contact member made up of the contact strips 35 and 36 and will engage during such movement with the obliquely extending face of the contact strip 36 to re-establish the circuit to the winding |6, whereupon the cycle of movements above described will be repeated.

Due to the fact that the points of attachment at 58 0f the spring 59 to the levers 55 and 56 are further apart, when in the position shown in Fig, 5, with the transverse portion 5I of the bail mounted therebetween, than the diameter of the pulley 60 around which said spring extends, the lengths of said spring extending from said levers toward said pulley will converge toward said pulley. A much weaker spring can be used, with this arrangement, than if a spring longitudinally aligning with said lever were provided, to return the parts to a central position, due to the fact that the resilient means exerts a sidewise pull on said levers, instead of being on dead center when the parts are in a central position. A smaller damping action on the oscillation of the signal arm 24 will thus be exerted by the spring. permitting a much greater amplitude of movement thereof.

It will, of course, be obvious that the magnetic circuit is from the core |4 through the bracket I3, the member I2, the post I to the armature 46, in the case of either of the electromagnets that may be energized by the switching means described.

What I claim is:

1. In a signal of the character described, a shaft, a signal arm extending therefrom, and means for oscillating said arm, comprising a pair of electro-magnets, an armature mounted for movement between said electro-magnets, means operatively connecting said armature and shaft to oscillate said shaft by movement of said armature between said electro-magnets, and means for alternately energizing said electro-magnets, comprising a pair of contact members, one of said contact members comprising a pair of contact elements insulated from each other, each connected with the winding of one of said electromagnets, and the other contact member beingr mounted to be oscillated by said shaft in a patli perpendicular to the axis of said shaft, the contact faces of said pair of contact elements being parallel and said parallel contact faces extending obliquely to a plane perpendicular to said axis.

2. In a signal of the character described, a shaft, a signal arm extending therefrom, and means for oscillating said arm, comprising a pair of electro-magnets, an armature mounted for movement between said electro-magnets, means operatively connecting said armature and shaft to oscillate said shaft by movement of said armature between said electro-magnets, and means for alternately energizing said electro-magnets, comprising a pair of contact members, one of said contact members comprising a pair of contact strips on opposite sides of said contact member secured together but insulated from each other, each contact strip being connected with the winding of one of said electro-magnets, and

the other contact member being mounted to be oscillated by saidl shaft in a path lying in a plane perpendicular to the axis of said shaft, the contact faces of said pair of contact strips being parallel to each other and extending obliquely to said plane, one of said contact members being yieldable transversely of said plane upon engagement of said contact members with each other, to provide a wiping contact alternately between the contact member on said shaft and each of said contact strips.

3. In a signal of the character described, a shaft, a signal arm lextending therefrom, and means for oscillating said arm, comprising a pair of electro-magnets, an armature mounted for movement between said electro-magnets, means operatively connecting said armature and shaft to oscillate said shaft by movement of said a1'- mature between said electro-magnets, and means for alternately energizing said electro-magnets, said shaft having means for returning said armature to a central position comprising a pair of arms loosely pivoted on said shaft, resilient means connected with each of said arms to resist movement thereof from a central position and a member on said shaft engaging between said arms to alternately move said arms against the tension cf said resilient means upon oscillation of said shaft in opposite directions.

4. In a signal of the character described, a shaft, a signal arm extending therefrom, and means for oscillating said arm, comprising a pair of electro-magnets, an armature mounted for movement between said electro-magnets, means operatively connecting said armature and shaft to oscillate said shaft by movement of said armature between said electro-magnets, and means for alternately energizing said electro-magnets, comprising a pair of contact members, one of said Contact members comprising a pair of contact strips, an insulating strip mounted therebetween, means for holding said strips in assembled position with said contact strips exposed on opposite faces of said contact membenf a mounting for said contact member, means for insulating said contact strips from said mounting, means connecting each of said contact strips with the winding of one of said electro-magnets, the other contact member being mounted to oscillate with said shaft in a path lying in a plane perpendicular to the axis of said shaft, said contact strips being mounted with the contact faces thereof extending obliquely to said plane in parallelism with each other, and resilient means tending to urge said other contact into a position in which the same engages one of said contact strips, at least one contact member of said pair being yieldable transversely of said plane upon engagement of said contacts to provide a wiping engagement between said other contact and said contact strips alternately assaid shaft oscillates.

5. In a signal of the character described, a shaft, a signal arm extending therefrom, and means for oscillating said arm, comprising a pair of electro-magnets, an armature mounted for movement between said electro-magnets, means operatively connecting said armature and shaft to oscillate said shaft by movement of said armature between said electro-magnets, and means for alternately energizing said electro-magnets, said shaft having means for returning said armature to a central position comprising a pair of arms loosely pivoted on said shaft, a roller mounted on a fixed axis spaced from said shaft, a coil spring having the ends thereof connected with said arms and extending over said roller, to resist movement of said arms from a central position and a member on said shaft engaging between said arms to alternately move said arms against the tension of said resilient means upon oscillation of said shaft in opposite directions 6. In'a signal of the character described, a shaft and a signal arm extending substantially perpendicularly to said shaft connected to move in unison, means for mounting said shaft for rotation about its axis, and means for oscillating said shaft and arm comprising an armature mounted on a pivot spaced from the axis of said shaft, a pair of electro-magnets mounted in spaced relation between said axis and said pivot, means movable with said shaft for alternately energizing said electro-magnets, said armature extending between said electro-magnets and comprising a pair of arms having parallel portions secured together in fixed relation and spaced at a point remote from said pivot to provide a slot in said armature, a wire bail on said shaft extending toward said armature and having a transverse portion normally loosely received in said slot, said arms having portions engaged by said transverse portion of said bail as said bail continues to move with said signal arm after said armature has reached the limit of its movement in either direction to prevent disengagement of said bail from said armature, sa1d engaged portions being straight and diverging from said slot at an oblique angle to said parallel portions and to each other and extending toward said shaft to denne a gradually widening confining means for the transverse portion of said bail extending from said slot toward said shaft, whereby said signal arm has a much wider arnplitude of movement than said armature, and resilient means connected with said shaft to return said bail and armature to a central position after each energization of each of said electromagnets.

LODOVICO CRISTOFOLI. 

